Lindsay Clancy Defense Argues No Evidence She Killed Her 3 Children

Lindsay Clancy is back in the headlines. Her lawyer argued Tuesday that there wasn't enough evidence to prove she killed her three children, a striking turn after a lengthy trial that focused more on her mental state than on whether she took their lives.

What the defense is now arguing

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked Judge William Sullivan for an acquittal, arguing that there was not enough evidence to prove that the 36-year-old former nurse killed her three young children. “This entire case is based on speculation,” Reddington said during the first hearing since Clancy's trial ended Sept. 4 with a deadlocked jury. They were split 11 to 1 in her favor.

He pointed to matters ranging from her condition when she was found, badly injured and bleeding in the yard outside her home, to her lack of memory of what happened when she woke up in a hospital. “Where is the admission? Where does she say that she did this?” Reddington asked.

A shift from the original trial strategy

During the trial, Reddington didn't dispute that Clancy killed the children at the family's home in 2023. Instead, the defense sought to persuade the jury that the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse was not criminally responsible because of mental disease, a rare condition called postpartum psychosis.

During the trial, Clancy's attorneys did not dispute that she fatally strangled her children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan — with exercise bands at their Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023. At the first trial, her now ex-husband and first responders testified that they arrived at the house and discovered she had tried to kill herself right after killing the children.

Do you want to see how to make more plays? Do you want to find gains yourself?

Unusual Whales helps you find market opportunities through our market tide, historical options flow, GEX, and much, much more.

Create a free account here to start conquering the market with Unusual Whales.

Prosecutors push back

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham called his argument “laughable,” pointing to various evidence raised during the trial. The commonwealth of Massachusetts also filed a motion asking Reddington to stop making “extrajudicial statements to the media” ahead of a potential retrial.

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to retry Clancy, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz told reporters after the hearing. They could choose to retry her on first-degree murder charges, seek to try her on lesser charges, negotiate a plea deal or drop the case altogether.

What happens next

Sullivan did not immediately rule. The next hearing in the case is set for Nov. 2. Clancy's attorneys have also asked the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that the holdout juror should have been removed.

Clancy, who is paralyzed from the waist down since jumping from a second-story window after strangling her children, is expected to remain at a psychiatric hospital where she's been held for the last three years until her case is resolved.

Options market and stocks to watch

This is a legal story with no direct market impact, but a few tickers can see incidental attention from cable-news coverage cycles around high-profile trials:

• CMCSA: Comcast owns NBC properties heavily involved in trial coverage; watch for engagement-driven ad reads during ratings periods.
• PARA: Paramount owns CBS News, another primary carrier of true-crime and trial coverage.
• WBD: Warner Bros. Discovery's CNN and HLN historically lean into these stories.
• FOX: Fox News coverage has already been part of the storyline around the case.

For unrelated market catalysts and macro drivers, keep an eye on other news.

Want more market intelligence? Create your free Unusual Whales account for options flow, market tide, GEX, and the full toolkit.